Sage Growth Capital invests in Idaho aviation company

Sage Growth Capital has invested in another company, this time an Idaho-based aviation software company, eTT Aviation.

“We raised $400,000 of revenue-based financing from Sage Growth Capital to help fund the integration of the newly acquired Eagle Cap Software into our SkedFlex Flight and Crew Management Suite,” said Tom LaJoie, president and CEO of the Eagle-based company.

Formally known as eTripTrader, Inc., dba eTT Aviation is a US service-disabled veteran-owned small business that specializes in scalable aviation flight, crew, maintenance, accounting, inventory, HR, and management information software. Its products, the Air Operations Suite, and Crew Companion trip trading software, support tens of thousands of aviation professionals at global, regional, charter, and cargo airlines worldwide, the company said in a statement.

In 2020, the company gained nine clients and increased the number of its employees 81% from 26 to 47, adding staff in development and customer service.

“We liked that this is a strong local company that has primarily grown through the founder bootstrapping from the beginning,” said Denise Dunlap, co-founder and managing partner at Sage Growth Capital, in Boise. “They have managed to continue their growth in spite of COVID and the massive problems it has created for the airlines and travel industry. Our funds will be used to magnify expected growth due to the Eagle Cap acquisition. The founders are very intentional about bringing in outside investors, and our funding was the right thing at the right time for them. Since we are not equity investors, there’s no dilution to current shareholders, but they still get the funds they need to grow.”

Sage Growth is an Idaho-based investment fund that specializes in companies that do not fit a traditional model. It is a revenue-based fund where investors see return on their investment as a percentage of the investees’ revenue. The advantage is that repayments are flexible because they go up or down based on sales performance. This is in contrast with the better-known equity model of venture capital funds, where investors typically take a share of equity in the investee and recoup investment when the investee is bought or goes public.

Other companies in which Sage Growth Capital has invested include Unity Laundry Systems of Bedford, New Hampshire, its first investment in a company outside of Idaho; Killer Creamery, the Boise-based keto-friendly ice cream maker, and Prosperity Organic Foods, another Boise company, which makes the plant-based Melt Organic butter substitute.

Sage Growth is a Boise-based investment fund that was founded by Denise Dunlap, Molly Otter and Kevin Learned. The fund was founded on July 1, 2019 and raised its capital from July 1 through December 31 of last year. Both Dunlap and Learned are partners with Loon Creek Capital in Boise. Otter was formerly the chief investment office of Lighter Capital in Seattle, where she worked in revenue-based lending.